Assessment item 5. Part B Critical reflection.

My view of the role of the Teacher Librarian (TL) has changed quite considerably throughout the study of the resources provided in ELT401 Teacher Librarianship.

Initially, I was somewhat naïve about the role of the TL and concerned about the future of TLs and their place in education institutions such as the one I’m currently employed in (Edwards, 2013a)

Preservation of knowledge, was my primary thought about the role of a TL. Although this is not incorrect it is very limited and very distant from the multifaceted role that I have now come to know. Herring (2007), Purcell (2010) and Lamb (2011), provide many examples of the role of a TL such as: Librarian, Information specialist, Information Literacy leader, Curriculum leader, website developer, budget and staff manager and professional development coordinator. It should have come as no surprise but these readings also gave a heavy importance of teaching, much more than I anticipated. In my blog (Edwards, 2013b) I highlighted that the TL’s primary role is teaching and meeting the educational needs of students as well as the social role TLs have such as: welfare, mentoring and being an ambassador for their students and their school. This primary role was also identified by The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and Australian School Library Association (ASLA) through its ‘Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians’ which focuses on the Teaching Role of the Teacher Librarian through the second strand ‘Professional Practice’ (ALIA & ASLA, 2004).

Through defining this explicit role of the TL other common themes appeared that were foreign to me but effectively assisted the TL to be successful and ultimately meet the educational needs of the students.

Working Collaboratively and obtaining the Principals Support

Working Collaboratively and obtaining the Principals Support were identified by Morris (2007) and Haycock (2007) as being key factors to the success of a TL. Morris (2007, p.1) stated “Principal support is the key to successful collaboration between classroom teachers and media specialists.” Haycock (2007, p.32) identified collaboration between staff members as the single professional behaviour that most affects student achievement and leads to growth of relationships improving experiences of all members of the school community.

Information Literacy (IL) and Inquiry Learning

The research and literature on IL is fascinating. Now knowing that this is a significant role of the TL I’m a little overwhelmed by this concept as there are numerous definitions. After reading definitions by Langford (1998), Doyle (1996), Candy (1993), Eisenberg & Berkowitz (1990), Herring & Tarter (2007) and Owen (1996), I personally prefer Abilock’s (2004), definition that ‘Information Literacy is a transformational process in which the learner needs to find, understand, evaluate, and use information in various forms to create for personal, social or global purposes.’

This above definition helped me to identify IL as being more than a set of skills as IL can go beyond the school setting to the workplace and attribute to lifelong learning highlighting the notion of creating, sharing, self-reflection and awareness (Edwards, 2013c).

Assessing IL and Inquiry Learning

While fully engrossed in the module Assessing IL and Inquiry Learning I had commented on my blog (Edwards, 2013d) questioning why TLs had to defend and justify their position. I had previously thought that the TL role of assessing was primarily to justify their position in schools. I now know that this is a vital role of the TL and its primary function is achievement of student outcomes not just accountability purposes. This primary role was again highlighted to me in the ‘Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians’ (2004) focusing on the Teaching Role of the Teacher Librarian through the second strand ‘Professional Practice’ standard 2.4 Evaluation.

The readings highlighted the many forms of assessment such as: diagnostic assessment (prior knowledge), formative assessment (throughout a unit of work) and summative assessment (end of unit of work) (Stripling 2007, p. 25) which were forms that I had implemented previously in my teaching. The most effective type of assessment that I had vague knowledge of and is a role of the TL was authentic assessment. I found this role of the TL interesting as it allows for collaboration with teachers and students to create an assessment that is significant to students as it provides real world problem for students to solve.

As I near the end of my first subject in ETL 401, after all the reading, research and reflection of the role of the TL, my view of the role of the TL has changed quite considerably. The TL is not merely a preserver of knowledge but an effective component of any school environment due to their varied skillset and primary role of achieving student outcomes.

Referencing:
Abilock, D. (2004). Information literacy: an overview of design, process and outcomes. Retrieved from http://www.noodletools.com/debbie/literacies/information/1over/infolit1.html

Australian School Library Association (ASLA) & The Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). (2004). Library standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians. Retrieved  from http://www.asla.org.au/policy/standards.htm

Bursting with Potential: Lamb, A. (2011). Bursting with potential: Mixing a media specialist’s palette. TechTrends, 55(4), 27-36.Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Candy, P. (1993). The problem of currency: Information literacy in the context of Australia as a learning society. Australian Library Journal, 42, 278-299.

Doyle, C. (1996). Information literacy: Status report from the United States. In D. Booker (Ed.), Learning for life: information literacy and the autonomous learner (pp. 39-48). Adelaide: University of South Australia.

Edwards, S. (2013a). How Libraries are Reinventing Themselves for the Future. Teacher Librarian in Training. Retrieved from http://scotttl.blogspot.com.au/

Edwards, S. (2013b). The Role of a TL. Teacher Librarian in Training. Retrieved from http://scotttl.blogspot.com.au/

Edwards, S. (2013c). Blog Task # 3 Information Literacy is More than a Set of Skills. Teacher Librarian in Training. Retrieved from http://scotttl.blogspot.com.au/

Edwards, S. (2013). How do you think a teacher librarian might make his or her priorities both clear and palatable to the school community. Teacher Librarian in Training. Retrieved from http://scotttl.blogspot.com.au/

Eisenberg, M., & Berkowitz, R. (1990). Information problem-solving: The big six skills approach to library and information skills instruction. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

Herring, J. (2007). Teacher librarians and the school library. In S. Ferguson (Ed.) Libraries
in the twenty-first century : charting new directions in information (pp. 27-42). Wagga
Wagga, NSW : Centre for Information Studies, Charles Sturt University.
 
Herring, J. and Tarter, A. (2007).Progress in developing information literacy in a secondary school using the PLUS model. School Libraries in View, 23, 23-27.

Langford, L. (1998). Information literacy: a clarification. It first appeared in School Libraries Worldwide, Volume 4, Number 1, 1998, 59-72. Retrieved from http://www.fno.org/sept98/clarify.html

Morris, B.J. (2007). Principal support for collaboration. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 23-24

Owen, R. (1996). Chilling the community: Information literacy and the Hindmarsh Island bridge. Australian Library Journal, 45(2), 120-135.

Purcell, M. (2010). All Librarians do is check out books, right? A look at the roles of a School Library Media Specialist.Library Media Connection, 29(3), 30-33. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Stripling, B. (2007). Assessing informative fluency: Gathering evidence of student learning. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 23(8), 25-29. Available CSU Library Reserve